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Sketches and Notes on 

the Life and Times ^'^{aS 

of Robert Seetey, 
by Rev* Raymond 
Hoyt Seetey, D. D. 




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Raymond Hovt Skeley 



Sketches and Notes 



ON THB 



IjIfe and Times of Robert Seeley, 



BY 



REV. RAYMOIVD HOYT SEELEY, T>. I>. 



AS RBAS BBFORZ: 



THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 



(1) 






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Raymond Hoyt Seeley 

was born in Norwalk, Conn., and was a direct descendant of 
Captain Robert Seeley through the latter's oldest son, Obadiah. 

He was educated in New York City where he was graduated 
from New York University, with the highest honors, taking the 
valedictory in a class in which were Richard Grant White, John 
Taylor Johnston and other men afterwards eminent in their pro- 
fessions. Years after this Alma Mater gave him the degree of 
D. D. From the University he passed to the Union Theological 
Seminary. During his student life he led the Old Broadway 
Tabernacle choir. He had a remarkable tenor voice and such 
was the talent he showed that a New York musical society of- 
fered to defray the expenses of his musical education abroad, but 
nothing turned him from his first purpose, to study for the 
ministry. 

Dr. Seeley was ordained in Bristol, Conn., in 1842 ; in 1847 
he accepted a call from the North Church, Springfield ; in 1857 
he became the first pastor of the American Chapel in Paris, 
France. Dr. Henry M. Field wrote of him "When I saw him in 
Paris in 1858, I thought him admirably fitted to his position there. 
Of refined and courteous manners, he was one to command the re- 
spect and attract the society of his countrymen in the French 
Capital." When he returned to New England it was to take 
charge of the North Church, Haverhill, Mass., where he remained 
its senior pastor, for twenty-five years, until his death. "Dr. 



Seeley brought to his work a superb physical constitution, a 
mind rarely endowed by nature, cultivation and extensive travel, 
an intellect both brilliant and deep united with remarkable wit 
and unusual conversational powers." — Extract from tJic Haver- 
hill Press. With a deep interest in public affairs and esjoecially 
in the welfare of Haverhill, he left a profound impression on the 
town. During the hours of his funeral services all the stores of 
the city were closed. 

Dr. Seeley was twice married ; first to Catherine Cowles of 
Farmmgton, Conn., the daughter of Major Timothy and Cathe- 
rine Deming Cowles. His second wife was Frances, daughter of 
Judge Richard Wayne Stites of Savannah, Ga., and later of 
Morristown, N. J. and his wife Elizabeth Cooke, a step-daughter 
of Judge Frederick Wolcott of Litchfield, Conn. 



I am indebted for the facts here given concerning Robert 
Seeley to the following works, viz.: 

1. Savage's Genealogical Dictionary. 

2. Trumbull's History of Connecticut. 

3. Bond's History of Watertovvn. 

4. Huntington's History of Stamford. 

5. Mr. Huntington himself for unpublished facts. 

6. Felt's Ecclesiastical History of New England. 

7. Palfrey's History of New England. 

8. Hollister's History of Connecticut. 

9. Farmer's Genealogical Register. 

10. Bancroft's History of U. S. 

11. Brodhead's History of State of New York. 

12. Barber's History of Antiquities of Northern States. 

13. DeForest's History of Indians of Connecticut. 

14. Records of the New Haven Colony. 

15. Records of the Connecticut Colony. 

16. Records of the City of New York, Surrogate's Office. 

17. Various Town and County and Church Records in Conn., etc. 

18. Genealogy of the Cilley Family by J. P. Cilley, Esq., of 
Mame. 

19. Hatfield's History of Elizabeth Town. 

20. Correspondence of various members of the Seeley Family. 

21. Jenness's History of the Isles of Shoals. 

22. Dr. Bacon's Lectures on the F"irst Church in New Haven. 

23. Mass. Hist. Collection 111, 143, 153. 

24. Bacon's New Haven, p. 315. 

25. Histories of Lynn. 

26. Underbill's History of Pequot War. 

27. Gardner Memoirs. 

28. Hinman's History of Connecticut, p. 292. 

R. H. S. 



Robert the Pioneer, and His Times. 

THE relations of Robert to his times will be best understood 
if we take a glance at the events which preceded and 
led to the settlement of Watertown, in which he was one of the 
earliest participants. 

In March 1628, the Plymouth Company sold to an Associ- 
ation of six gentlemen in England i a belt of territory stretch- 
ing from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and extending three miles 
south of the Charles River and Massachusetts Bay, and three 
miles north of the most northern portion of the Merrimack 
River. 

The Company making the purchase took the title of the 
"Massachusetts Bay Company" and in a few days made choice 
of Matthew Cradock of London for its governor.^ 

A charter from the King, Charles First, was not received 
till March 4th of the following year, but in June 1628^ a band of 
immigrants, under the direction of Captain John Endicott, sailed 
for New England, landed at Salem and took measures for estab- 
lishing a settlement. 

1. The six were Sir Henry Roswell, Sir John Young-, Thomas Southcott, John Hum- 
phrey, Jolin Endicott and Simon Whitcomb. 

2. The charter of this conpany was g^ranted to Sir Henry Rosewell, Sir John Young, 
Sir Richard Saltonstall, Thotnas Southcott, John Humphrey, John Endicott, Simeon Whit- 
comb, Isaac Johnson^ Samuel Aldersev, John Vere, Matthew Cradock, George Harwood, 
Increase Nexvell, Kichard Perry. Richard Bclling-ham. Nathaniel Wright, Samuel Vassel, 
Theophiliis Eaton. Thomas Gotfe , rhonis Adims. John Brown, Samuel Brown, Thomas 
Hutchins, William Vassall William Pinchion and George Foxcroite. Those who came to 
Massachusetts Bay are printed in italics. Bond's History of Wafertowti. 

3. Mr. Bancroft says the first detachment of colonists, led by Francis Higginson set sail 
in May 1629, but he may mean the first company that was forwarded after the patent was 
granted. 



8 



In July 1629, Matthew Cradock, the Governor of the Massa- 
chusetts Bay Company, proposed that its charter and govern- 
ment should be transferred to those freemen who should them- 
selves make their residence in New England, and September 1st 
after serious debate, the proposition was carried by general con- 
sent of the members of the corporation. 

In August, Winthrop made an arrangement with Saltonstall, 
Dudley, Vassall and others, to embark the following spring 
for New England. In October Winthrop was chosen Governor, 
Dudley Deputy-Governor with a board of assistants, and large 
numbers made arrangements to emigrate to the new world. Mr. 
Bancroft (Hist. 1355) says that the whole number of ships em- 
ployed during the season of 1630 was seventeen, that they car- 
ried over not far from fifteen hundred souls, and that "many of 
them were men of high endowments, large fortunes and the best 
education ; scholars well versed in all the learning of the times, 
clergymen who ranked among the most eloquent and pious in 
the realm." These embarked with Winthrop for their Asylum, 
bearing with them the charter which was to be the basis of their 
liberties. 

On the eighth of April, 1630, the Arbella, the Ambrose and 
the Talbot sailed from the Isle of Wight, bringing the Governor, 
the Deputy-Governor, several of the assistants, Rev. George 
Phillips, Rev. John Wilson and others who afterwards held prom- 
inent places in the early history of the colony. 

The Arbella arrived at Salem, June r2th ; the Jewell, June 
13th; the Talbot, July 2nd. In one of these eleven vessels which, 
according to Savage, composed the fleet of Winthrop, came 
Robert Seeley with his wife Mary and two sons, Obadiah and 
Nathaniel, but in which one of them is not known as the Arbella 
is the only one of the vessels of whose passengers a list is pre- 
served. Nor is it at present known from what part of England 
Robert emigrated. 



Families of the name have been known in England for cen- 
turies, and in different localities, in the counties of Gloucester, 
Suffolk, Somerset, Lincoln, and such towns as Plymouth, Bristol, 
Bridgewater and London. 

We find the the following items on record: 

Visitation of London, 1568 — Elizabeth, daughter and heir of 
Richard Sely, married Thomas L, Taylor, Esq., of Lydgate, 
Suffolk. 

George Selye — Grace, daughter of John Bramstone, Gent, 
London. 

We are indebted to J. P. Cilley, Esq., of Rockland, Me., for 
the following account of the Cilley family. "In the year 1563 
the following petition was addressed to the Lords of Elizabeth's 
council; "in most lamentable wise showeth unto your honors your 
humble orator Dorothy Seeley, of the city of Bristol, wife to 
Thomas Seeley of the Queens Majesty's guard that where her 
said husband, upon most slanderous, spiteful, malicious and most 
villainous words spoken against the Queens Majesty's own per- 
son by a certain subject of the King of Spain, — here not to be 
uttured, — not being able to suffer the same, did fly upon the 
same slanderous person and gave him a blow ; so it is, most hon- 
orable Lords, that hereupon my said husband, no other offence 
in respect of their religion there committed, was secretly ac- 
cused to the Inquisition of the Holy House, and so committed to 
the most vile prison, and there hath remained, now three whole 
years, in miserable state with cruel torments." 

We are also indebted to Mr. Cilley for the following : "In 
the list of captains who accompanied Drake to the West Indies 
in his famous voyage of 1585-86, I find the name of Thomas 
Seeley in command of the "Minion," probably a son bred by his 
mother in deadly hatred of the Spanish race." 

According to Burke the family was of Norman extraction. 

(2) 



10 



Shakespeare has introduced the name in his play of Richard 
II. In the last act Sir Bennet Seeley is represented as having 
been beheaded by the followers of Bolingbroke, for his loyalty to 
Richard. As this monarch was dethroned in 1399 it is probable 
that Shakespeare had good reason for introducing Sir Bennet in 
the play, which was written no later than 1597. 

In 1660 Oliver Ceeley, a merchant at Plymouth, England, 
was Mayor of the city. He signs his name Ollyver Ceely. 

In 1607, William Sealy of Bridgewater, county Somerset, 
Gent, married Joane, daughter of Bulliford of South Molton, 
Devon, (Statement, with the genealogy of the family for several 
generations in the Herald's College, London. "Visitation of 
Somerset 1762.") 

In the list of marriages of remarkable persons in England 
printed in the Gentlemen's Magazine for 1800 is the following: 
Richard Llewellen, Esq., of Westbury on Trim. Co. Gloucester, 
to the eldest daughter of John Sealy, Esq.^ Coming down to 
later times, in July, 1847, Mr. Charles Seeley was returned to 
Parliament from Lincolnshire and his unsuccessful competitor 
was no less a person than Sir E, B. Lytton. Of the Seeleys in 
the England of our day, nought needs to be said. In booksell- 
ing some of them have long been well known while one of them 
has distinguished himself aS the author of Ecce Homo. 

But while the birthplace of Robert Seely is, at the time of 
writing, not known, nor which of the vessels of'Winthrop's fleet 
brought him across the sea, his course after he landed on these 
shores is very clearly marked out. 

Soon after their arrival at Salem, the attention of the new- 
comers was devoted to the selection of sites for settlements. 
Winthrop and others explored the bay and its vicinity. Some 

1. The various methods of speHing- the name in the foregoing' extracts ■will be noticed. 
We find it spelled Seeley, Seely, .Sely, Selly, Seelye, Selye, Sillea, Sillia, Sealey, Sealy and the 
writer of these lines has had his accounts made out by Paris tradesmen as M. Zilet. 



u 



preferred Charlestown, others Dorchester, but Winthrop first 
located at Charlestown, and Saltonstall, Rev. George Phillips and 
their associates, among whom was Robert Seeley, proceeded 
four miles up the Charles River and commenced a settlement 
which at first was called "Sir Richard Saltonstall's plantation" but 
which the court named Watertown. 

On taking possession it was necessary first to locate the site 
of a meetins: house and next the homesteads of the settlers. In 
this allotment of land, Robert Seeley received a tract of sixteen 
acres eligibly situated east of Fresh Pond and on the road that 
was laid out to run parallel with the Charles River, not far from 
its north bank. As this was one of the largest homestalls al- 
lotted to any of the planters(Sir Richard Saltonstall's consisting of 
but sixteen acres,) it establishes two things; that Kobert was, as 
we have stated, one of the company of explorers and that he 
was well esteemed by his associates. ^ 

July 30, 1630, the Watertown Church was formed, and it 
may be taken for granted that Robert Seeley was one of the 
forty men who entered into covenant on that occasion, since 
church membership was a condition of enjoying the privileges of 
a freeman and he was one of the first of those who registered 
their names for admission as such.^ 

This registry was in October, 1630, and on May 18th, 1631, 
he was one of the twenty-five who first became freemen, among 
whom were Rev. George Phillip, R. Saltonstall, Jr. and Captain 
Daniel Patrick.^ 

1. This homestall, which was subsenuently sold to Simon Eire, is indicated on 
Bond's map of ancient Wateitown and ha-^ been easilv located at the present day. Bond ob- 
serves that few or none of the homestalls allotted to the first planters exceeded sixteen acres, 
the averaere beina: probably five or six acres. 

2. The first church of Watertown was organized Julv 28th. 16')0, and next after that of 
Salem, is the oldest in the colonv of Massachusetts Bav. It was the onlv church in the town 
for 66 vears ; and for more than ten years Rev. Geo. Phillips was its pOiStor.— Sondes History 
of Watertown. . 

3. The first recorded transaction of the Governor and assistants after their arrival, 
having: reference to militarv or defensive measures, was at their second meeting, when 
provision was made for the support of Captain Daniel Patrick and Captain John Under- 
bill of Boston. It is probable that for tue first few years Captain Underbill had the training 
of the soldiers on the south side of Charles River and Captain Patrick those on the north 
side, viz : those of Charlestown, Watertown, New Town and Medford. In November 1637 
they were dischartred from these offices and the company since known as the Ancient and 
Honorable Artillery Company was formed. 



12 



In 1634 it was agreed "by consent of the freemen, that 
Robert Seeley and Abram Browne shall measure and lay out all 
the lots that are granted." This office of surveyor, Robert held, 
as we shall see, so long as he remained an inhabitant of the 
town. 

Early in 1635 the population of Watertown had become so 
crowded that many began to remove, " either to form new plan- 
tations or to reside in towns already settled, " and the first 
considerable movement was the formation of a company which 
in May 1635 took with them the Rev. John Sherman (who had 
come from England the year before) and planted a settlement in 
Connecticut, which they called Watertown but to which the court 
gave the name of Wethersfield. Robert Seeley was one of this 
company and in August after his departure from Watertown, at 
a meeting of the freemen, it was " agreed that Abram Browne 
shall lay out the Lotts granted by the freemen, deputized to 
order the town affairs, and Robert Seeley surcease to doe any 
more business for the town." In other words the office which 
he had filled was thus legally vacated. But notwithstanding 
Robert's sale of his homestall and removal to Wethersfield, he 
continued to hold other property in Watertown so late as 1642. 



13 



Robert Seeley in Connecticut. 



SOON after the arrival of the new colony at Pyquang, called 
by them Watertown and by the court Wethersfield, it 
became evident that some preparation must be made by them 
for self-defence. 

The Pequots who had their headquarters on the banks of 
the Thames, but who had extended their conquests to the Con- 
necticut River, and even as far west as Quinnipiac (New Haven) 
were not well pleased with the appearance of white men in their 
neighborhood. In 1632 they had provoked a war, which con- 
tinued a year, between themselves and the Dutch, who had 
established a trading^ post at^ Sicahogg (Hartford) and probably 
it was from enmity toward the jDutch that they invited the 
English of Massachusetts to settle in Connecticut. In 1633 
the people of Plymouth sent William Holmes with a small 
company of men, who established a settlement a few miles above 
Hartford which they called Winsor. But unfortunately, in his 
negotiations for the tract, he overlooked or purposely neglected 
the Pequots who claimed supremacy as conquerors of the original 
sachems. 

The irritation thus caused induced them the more readily to 
engage in acts which alarmed the English settlers and finally led 
to a war. They first killed one Captain Stone and with him a 
Captain , Norton, ar 1 the crew of a small vessel in which they 
had come to the shores of the Connecticut River from Virginia, 



14 



for trading purposes. The Indians defended the act as justly 
caused by Captain Stone's evil conduct, and however correct 
this may have been, the occurrence plainly indicated that the 
Pequots v/ere in no amiable mood. 

Such were the circumstances whem the Wethersfield set- 
tlers arrived at the place of their destination, and they early 
took measures for the orginization of a military company at the 
head of which was Sergeant Robert Seeley, whose duty was to 
drill and train the men and have them in readiness for an emer- 
gency. 

In the following year another atrocity was committed by 
Pequots or by those under their control and by their connivance. 

Mr, John Oldham, a well known citizen of Dorchester, 
sailed in the spring of 1636, with a crew of two boys and two 
Narragansett Indians for the purpose of trading with the Pe- 
quots. On his return he was treacherously murdered at Block 
Island. The crime was discovered by a Mr. Gallop, another 
trader, who surprised the perpetrators of the deed on Mr. Old- 
ham's own vessel, and then also Mr. Gallop discovered the 
mutilated remains of the murdered man. 

The English settlements were aroused by the news of this 
event, more thoroughly than the Highlands of Scotland by the 
fiery cross. They saw in this sanguinary deed the treachery and 
lawlessness of the savages and the precursor of slaughters on a 
more extensive scale. They therefore determined to act with 
promptness and severity. Accordingly the Massachusetts au- 
thorities sent John Endicott, with a force of ninety men, who were 
first to visit Block Island and avenge the murder of Mr. Oldham, 
and then proceed to the Pequot country and secure the murderers 
of Capt. Stone and his crew, with satisfactory assurances that 
such deeds should not be repeated. In the most important of 
its objects the expedition was a failure and ended in skirmish- 
ing and bloodshed on both sides. 



IS 



This led the Pequots to seek an alhance with the Narrangan- 
setts for the purpose of exterminating the English with fire and 
sword, while the latter resolved to unite their forces and strike 
the former a blow which should render them incapable of doing 
much more harm and should also be a warning to all other In- 
dians against incurring the just vengeance of the whites. 

Through the exertions of Roger Williams the Pequots failed 
in their attempts to gain the Narragansetts over to their side ; 
and early in the spring of 1637 the measures of the English were 
matured. The colony of Massachusetts mustered one hundred 
and sixty men under the command of Capts. Stoughton, Trask 
and Patrick, the latter being sent in advance. The Wetherfield 
quota may have gone to the field with no little zeal as in April of 
this same year nine of the settlers had been killed and two young 
girls carried away captives by the Pequots.^ 

On Wednesday, May 20th, the Connecticut quota, consist- 
ing of ninety men, forty from Hartford, thirty from Winsor, and 
eighteen from Wethersfield, all under the command of Captain 
John Mason and Lieut. Robert Seeley- and accompanied by the 
Sachem Uncas and seventy-five friendly Indians embarked at 
Hartford and slowly proceeded down the river. On Monday they 
arrived at the Saybrook Fort where they were welcomed by 
Capt. Gardner, the Commandant, and remained until the follow- 
ing Thursday. Here learning that Capt. John Underbill would 
join them with nineteen men, they sent back twenty of the origi- 
nal force to guard the plantations. 

The expedition had been ordered to proceed to Pequot Har- 
bor and make a direct attack upon the enemy. But Mason 

i. No vessel could pass up or down the river without a guard, the Pequots torturing 
those who fell into their hands, cutting deep gashes in the flesh and putting live embers into 
the wounds. — Barber. 

2. Records of Genl. Court at Hartford p. 1. is tlie following minute : "It is ordered that 
there shall be an offensive war against the Pequots, and that there shall be ninety men levied 
out of the three plantations, Hartford, Wethersfield and Winsor. under the command of Capt. 
Joe Mason and in case of death or sickness under the command of Kobeit Seeley, Lieut. 



16 



learned that the Indians had sixteen guns with ammunition at 
the Harbor, and would be prepared to receive their assailants 
with greatly superior numbers; and therefore he proposed to go 
to Narragansett and thence attack the foe in the rear. Conse- 
quently until Thursday, the 25th of May, the time was occupied 
in making preparations for the onset. That evening a despatch 
was received from Capt. Patrick that he had fulfilled a certain 
mission at Block Island, was now at the plantation of Roger 
Williams, and requested Capt. Mason to wait till he with his forty 
men should join the assailing force. But as he did not state 
when they might expect him, they thought it neither prudent nor 
expedient to tarry. 

Accordingly that same night, they bivouacked at Porter's 
Rocks; and about two hours before day on Friday, May 26th, 
they started in the moonlight for a march of about two miles to 
the nearest of the two Pequot forts. The one to be attacked was on 
the summit of a hill and the evening previous had received a re- 
inforcement of one hundred and fifty men from the other fort. 
Before commencing the ascent, the English force was di- 
vided, Underbill, with one party, was directed to make an attack 
on the southern side while Mason, with Seeley, and the remam- 
der of the men, marched directly on the main, or northern, 
entrance. 

They moved forward in silence and were within a rod of the 
fort when the barking of a dog gave the alarm, and one of the 
Pequots shouted "Owanux! Owanux! Englishmen, Englishmen! " 
and the Indians were thoroughly aroused. 

At the same moment the English rushed forward and fired 
through the pallisade and Mason threw himself over the brush 
and rubbish which obstructed the passageway into the fort. He 
was instantly followed by Lieutenant Seeley, who tore away the 
obstructions and entered with sixteen men. A pell-mell conflict 



17 



ensued in which the Indians fired from the interior of their wigf- 
warns, and the EngHsh in the streets fought with the bravery of 
men who knew that on their success rested the fate of their altars 
and firesides, the fate of their families and even of their race 
on this side of the Atlantic. But, while many of the Indians 
were killed and wounded, they were greatly superior in numbers, 
and Mason's men were wounded, scattered and confused, so that 
it began to be doubtful which way victory would turn. It was a 
moment of supreme importance. The Indians would give no 
quarter to their assailants nor to those whose battle the assail- 
ants were fighting. Mason's experienced eye took in the 
situation and he shouted " We must burn them ! " and, rushing 
into a wigwam, seized a firebrand, and threw it among the 
inflammable materials of the encampment. The flames rapidly 
spread. Underbill had just gained an entrance, after encounter- 
ing a determined resistance and kindled his side of the fort with 
powder. He withdrew his men. Mason had done the same, and 
they formed a line about the burning fortress. 

The Indians fought with the fierceness of despair. But in 
a little more than an hour they all perished, in the flames of the 
fort, under the fire of their assailants, or by the arrows and toma- 
hawks of the Narragansetts, who seem to have drawn near as 
the fortunes of the day were decided. 

Thus between four and five hundred Indians were destroyed. 
Seven only were taken prisoners and seven escaped. Of the 
English two were killed and twenty wounded. In short it was a 
tremendous slaughter and well illustrative of the horrors of war. 

The bloody conflict ended, the victors were in anxious doubt 
as to what course they should pursue ; their vessels not having 
arrived from Narragansett. But at the end of an hour the little 
fleet was seen entering the Pequot Harbor and at the same time 
Sassacus with a body of three hundred warriors from the other 

(3) 



18 



fort was beheld rapidly approaching. The English took up their 
twenty wounded men, to bear whom required the services of all 
but forty of their comrades, and placing fourteen as a rearguard, 
they marched for the boats, followed by the Indians. When the 
latter reached the ruins of their late fortress, the sight horrified 
and almost crazed them. They stamped and tore their hair, 
and howled in rage and despair. Then they rushed on the 
English as if to annihilate them at a blow. But the further loss 
of a hundred of their number put an end to the attempt, and the 
English proceeded to the shore, where they were received with a 
welcome by Patrick and his men, who had come from Naragan- 
sett in the vessels. 

The wounded were then placed on board and with them 
thirty-five others who sailed for Saybrook, while Mason with 
twenty men and Patrick with forty marched across the country 
to the fort at Saybrook. Arriving toward evening they received 
an enthusiastic welcome from Lieut. Gardiner and the garrison 
at the fort. Thus under Captain Mason, Captain Underbill and 
Lieut. Seeley was undertaken this desperate expedition to Mis- 
tick Fort where three hundred Indians were killed, the fort 
burned and several prisoners taken. 

The terrible disaster they had encountered induced the 
Pequots to leave the territory they had inhabited ; and the main 
body, headed by their chief sachem, Sassacus, and Monototto, 
another chieftain, travelled westward till they reached and took 
refuge in an extensive swamp in Unquowa, subsequently called 
Fairfield. They were followed and on the 13th of July this same 
year (1637) they were discovered by Mr. Ludlow and Captain 
Mason. Orders were given to surround the swamp, and an 
interpreter was sent to them with the assurance that their lives 
should be spared if they would surrender and be at peace. The 
offer was accepted by the Indians of the vicinity who had entered 



19 



the swamp with them, and by the Pequot women and children. 
But the Pequot warriors refused and poured a volley of arrows on 
Mr. Thomas Staunton, the interpreter, who had approached 
them with an olive branch. It was therefore useless to parley, 
the day was fast waning and the command to make the assault 
was given. 

The besiegers cut their way through with their swords, and 
the wretched Pequots who had betaken themselves to one quar- 
ter of the swamp, were closely hemmed in on all sides, while a 
deadly fire was directed upon them and kept up through the 
night. It appeared in the morning that only twenty or thirty 
had escaped. 

This event took place, it will be perceived, about eighteen 
days after the destruction of the fort at Mystic ; and none of the 
accounts state that Seeley was among the assailants on this oc- 
casion yet, as a second company was raised and placed under his 
command as Captain, ten or twelve days after the Mystic fight, 
the inference is just that he was with Mason in this affair. 

At the close of the Pequot war Captain, or as he was still 
called. Lieutenant Seeley withdrew from Wethersfield and was 
one of those who, led by John Davenport, Pastor, and by Theo- 
philus Eaton (who for twenty years in succession was elected 
their Governor) held their first meeting April 18th, 1638, under a 
branching oak, and entered into covenant, by which the New 
Haven Colony was formed, and its first form of government was 
constituted and established. (Bancroft, Vol. I, 403.) 

Subsequently the free planters of the colony felt the need 
of a more perfect form of government and June 4th, 1639, they 
came together and held a constituent assembly in Robert New- 
man's barn. Twenty three, among whom was Robert Seeley, 
were enrolled on the list of freemen of the court of New Haven, 
having previously been enrolled as members of Davenport's 



20 



church. They subsequently reaffirmed (as did Stamford and 
other plantations) the principle, that civil offices should be held 
by none but church members. 

As one of the original planters of the colony, Captain Seeley 
shared in the division of the lands and in 1639 became a member 
of the General Court. As such he was appointed on various 
committees, was commissioned to confer, on behalf of the colony, 
with the neighboring Sachems ; and being active in the transaction 
of public business, his name thenceforward frequently appears 
on the Colonial Records. Mr. Huntington (Historian of Stam- 
ford) writes, " when in 1641 Robert Seeley was appointed Sheriff 
(a very honorable office in the days of the English settlers) 
his family is reported as consisting of four persons, himself, wife 
and two sons, and the social standing of the family in 1646 was 
indicated by the seats they occupied in church in accordance 
with the order of the General Court. By the arrangement, the 
family occupied the fourth of the middle seats, with only three 
seats ranking higher and forty-three lower." 

He was engaged in various business enterprises, was 
interested in a tannery, and judging from the notices of him 
which appear in the Colonial Records, he was an active, enter- 
prising and useful citizen, careful in his business affairs, looking 
well to his own interests and moderately prosperous. 

In 1 640 — a year or two after his removal from Wethersfield — 
he presented certain claims on that town, which were settled by 
arbitration and he received a hundred and fifty bushels of corn 
and twenty shillings in cash, which latter article, we may infer, 
was somewhat scarce in the settlement at that time. 

He seems to have had a commendable foresight in making 
use of his advantages and his right to share in the division of 
lands among the original settlers. We have seen that in Water- 
town he received one of the largest and most eligible homesteads. 



21 



In New Haven a homestall lot in the village and other lands 
v^ere allotted to him. In 1649 his name appears in the Records 
as a proprietor of house and lands in Stamford and as Stamford 
was purchased in 1640 of the two Sachem proprietors for New 
Haven, the lands above spoken of were doubtless received by 
him as his share in the division that was made among the pur- 
chasers. It also appears that he was possessed of lands in Strat- 
ford, for in 1663 the General Court adjudged that, in considera- 
tion of twenty-five pounds paid to him by the town of Stratford, 
he should make over to said township all his right and title to 
lands within its boundaries, whether his right had been acquired 
from the town or from the Indians or in any other way. 

In those early days when the modes of communication were 
difficult and tedious, the relations between the several New 
England settlements were carefully maintained and there was 
need for this close intimacy in the exposure of each settlement 
to hostile incursions of Indians, of the Dutch or of both together. 

The difficulty between the Dutch and the English settlers, 
which came so often near to bloody outbreaks, arose from the 
conflicting territorial claims of the parties. Hendrick Hudson 
was in the service of the States-General of Holland when in 1614 
he touched at the various points on these shores and especially 
when he discovered the river that bears his name, the island of 
Manhadoes and the surrounding territory. 

The Dutch therefore held that the sovereignty of all these 
regions pertained to themselves by right of discovery. On the 
contrary the English claimed that as to the right of discovery 
they had the priority, because John Cabot was in the service of 
Henry VII when in 1497, he discovered the continent ; while 
Captain John Smith had done more than discover — he had com- 
menced the foundations of a settlement in New England in the 
same year that Hudson barely touched or gazed upon its shores. 



22 



The English also held that actual occupation was necessary 
to complete a title to the wilderness and they held their several 
territories by this higher right as well as by Royal grants and 
patents and charters. Moreover, the English settlers held them- 
selves ready to vindicate their claims, when necessary, by the 
sword. 

Soon after Stamford began to be settled, Captain Under- 
bill and Captain Patrick came thither and finally Underbill 
established his residence at Greenwich. 

In 1643 war broke out between the Indians and the Dutch. 
As generous foes the English did not hesitate to render assist- 
ance, and when the Dutch sought the aid of Captain Underbill, 
he took command of their troops and such men as he could 
muster. The Dutch also appealed for help to the New Haven 
colony. The latter magnanimously responded, and sent Captain 
Seeley at the head of a force with which he was to co-operate 
with Captain Underbill. The war lasted two years and while it 
was yet in progress and when England was in the midst of a 
civil war, the Indians began to be very uneasy, and exhibited in 
Virginia, in western Connecticut and in Rhode Island, such 
treachery and savage ferocity, that the whites became thoroughly 
alarmed and were convinced that the Indians were engaged in a 
general conspiracy for the purpose of exterminating their civilized 
neighbors. Even Roger Williams was constrained to warn the 
Commissioners of the Colonies that an Indian war was impend- 
ing. In these circumstances the General Court of New Haven 
purchased of Col. George Fenwick, sole proprietor, the township 
of Saybrook, the fort with its appurtenances and all the lands 
lying on the river. The purchase took place in December and 
forthwith the court ordered the fort to be put in repair and 
properly garrisoned. 

The precautions taken by the whites seem to have broken up 



23 



the conspiracy; but thenceforth when difficulties arose with the 
Indians or Dutch the fortification at Saybrook received immedi- 
ate attention. 

The year 1646 brought peace and quiet, and Robert Seeley 
took the occasion to seek from the General Court permission to 
visit England. As he held an office at the time, it seems to have 
been contrary to custom, but the request was granted as a special 
favor. Hovv^ever he does not appear to have made the visit; and 
his change of purpose may have been caused by the movements 
of the Dutch Governor, Kieft, who about this time laid claim 
to New Haven and the entire sea coast for his principals in Hol- 
land and for the States General. The attempt to enforce such a 
claim would have brought on a general war and, in such an exi- 
gency. Captain Seeley was not the man to leave the post of duty, 
not even to satisfy what must have been a yearning desire of his 
heart to visit Old England and the friends there left behind, 
when, sixteen years before, he went into exile. 

His non-departure was also probably urged by his fellow 
citizens, and an interesting transaction strikingly testifies of their 
esteem for him and for his services. Among the arrangements 
made by him for leaving home he had sold his house and two 
acres of land out of his first division to one Jacob Bassett; and 
whether as an inducement for him to defer his intended journey or 
as a testimonial of their appreciation of his patriotic self-sacrifice 
they presented him with another house. It is stated on the 
records of the General Court that the Governor himself proposed 
that the citizens should purchase for Lieut. Seeley the house of 
Robert Bassett. (Robert Seeley twice received a commission as 
Captain but is often referred to by his title of Lieutenant.) 

Beyond question his services were highly prized by his 
neighbors and these same services were valuable without doubt. 
As Marshal of the Colony, as commander of the local militia, as 



24 



a member of the Committees of the General Court, as a Com- 
mittee especially appointed to negotiate with Indian Sachems, as 
an arbitrator appointed by the Court in many cases, as a wise 
counsellor, as an efficient public servant, indefatigable in pro- 
moting the public weal, and as a brave soldier, endurmg with 
readiness the fearful hardships of that early warfare, fearless in 
face of danger, able to command and willing to obey, — he was 
truly an excellent citizen, well deserving all the confidence and 
esteem in which he was held by all who knew him, and next to 
those of the Governor and minister his name was justly one of 
the most conspicuous among the New Haven colonists during 
the entire period of his residence among them. 

In 1647 Peter Stuyvesant arrived in New Amsterdam expect- 
ing his authority as Governor of the New Netherlands to extend 
from Cape Cod to the shores of Delaware Bay. 

So unfavorable were the circumstances in which he found 
himself that his admistration almost from first to last was 
characterized by disputes concerning territory with the English 
and other settlers, by conflicts with the Indians and even by sus- 
picions of being united with the Indians in conspiracy against 
the New England colonists. 

In 1648 there was sharp and warlike correspondence be- 
tween the Governor and the Commissioners of the New Haven 
Colony, As usual when war began to be apprehended the ser- 
vices of Robert Seeley were called into requisition and he was 
appointed Captain of the soldiery of the colony. 

The year following, in 1649, he was in Stamford; but 
whether in a military capacity or on private business is not 
known. Possibly both military matters and private affairs may 
have received his attention, since the skies were not entirely free 
from warlike appearances, and also his elder son, Obadiah, was 
then a citizen of the place. 



25 



In 1652, while England and Holland were at war, rumors 
were rife in the colonies that the Dutch under Governor Stuy- 
vesant, and the Indians were plotting the extermination of the 
English settlers. The report was declared to be wholly a fabri- 
cation by Governor Stuyvesant, and was probably false, but the 
Indians so persistently asserted its truthfulness that the Com- 
missioners of the colonies of New Haven and Connecticut were 
convinced that Stuyvesant was guilty. War, therefore, would 
have been declared if the Massachusetts Commissioner, Simon 
Bradstreet, had not opposed it. Complaint was thereupon made 
to Cromwell against this colony, as refusing to fulfil its public 
obligations. 

Cromwell disapproved of the course taken by the recusants 
and sent two ships with munitions of war to Boston, for the 
purpose of carrying on war against Stuyvesant and his supposed 
Indian allies. With the ships came Major Sedgwick and Captain 
Leverett who were to command the eight hundred troops to be 
raised by the colonists for operations against the foe. 

Five hundred men were to be enlisted within the limits of 
Massachusetts, of the remainder two hundred were raised by 
Connecticut and one hundred and thirty-three by New Haven. 
Captain Seeley was placed in command of the New Haven quota. 

Meanwhile two minor operations claimed attention. It was 
resolved to seize the Dutch trading post at Hartford and the 
troops under Captain Seeley took part in the enterprise, which 
was achieved on March 6th, 1654. Also when the Indians under 
Ninegret had committed outrages on the Indians at Montauk, L. 
I. Captain Seeley was sent with a small number of men to the 
fort at Saybrook to co-operate with Captain Mason in protecting 
the Long Islanders. But these proceedings were brought to a 
sudden cessation by the proclamation of peace between England 
and Holland. Several years of quiet now intervened and though 

(4) 



26 



a man of war, Captain Seeley must have found very great enjoy- 
ment in the quiet and comfort of home, in the society of his 
neighbors and in fulfilHng the duties which devolved on him in 
connection with the various offices to which he was elected by 
the well deserved partiality of his fellow-citizens. 

Among other things which marked this interval was a great 
sorrow which befell him in the decease of his oldest son Obadiah, 
of Stamford, which event took place in the year 1657. 

In 1652 the General Court voted to pay Robert Seeley 
fifteen pounds out of the public treasury, but whether this was 
"back pay" or whether it was due for the fulfilment of other public 
duties does not appear. At the same session of the Court, it 
was voted to put the County House at Saybrook in repair, Capt. 
Seeley to reside in it, and to have a care for the ammunition. 
(Judging from what I have been able to learn this "County 
House" so called was erected by Col. Fenwick, as a residence 
for himself, when he first settled at Saybrook, and it also seems 
to have been located within the walls of the fortification, as a 
precaution against the Indians.) 

Doubtless he was the more ready to enter into this arrange- 
ment as his family consisted of himself and his wife only. His 
two sons had long since married and settled, Obadiah, the elder, in 
Stamford, and Nathaniel, the younger, in Fairfield. Obadiah 
had now been dead five years. 

In 1663 the General Court appointed Robert Seeley Com- 
missioner for the town of Huntington, Long Island, and he took 
the oath of office in Court. 

In 1664 he was appointed Chief Military Officer in that 
town and he was also to have the training of its soldiery. In 
addition he was chosen a member of the House of Deputies of 
the General Court ; and in fulfilment of the duties thus devolv- 
ing upon him, maintained those habits of industry and public 



27 



usefulness which had characterized his entire career from the 
time when he united with his fellow immigrants in laying the 
foundations of VVatertown. 

Soon after the accession of Charles II to the throne a pro- 
posal was originated for incorporating, under royal sanction, the 
colony of New Haven with that of Connecticut. As the laws 
and customs of the two colonies differed in some fundamental 
respects, some of the inhabitants of the former began to fear lest 
their liberties might be abridged and took up their residence with 
the settlers on Long Island. Very soon the minds of these and 
of others of the same colony were turned to the lands across the 
bay from Manhattan Island, on the Jersey shore, and the advan- 
tages they offered for settlements under the protection of the 
Dutch. 

As early as February 15th, 1660 John Strickland wrote 
from Huntington, L. I. on behalf of himself and others who had 
been his neighbors at New Haven, and made an application to 
Governor Stuyvesant and his council to " settle upon that place 
on the main land which is called Arther Cull."^ 

Negotiations were in progress during a long time as the 
contracting parties could not agree as to terms and it was not 
until 1664 when the Dutch Governor surrendered to the English 
troops under the Duke of York, that the new enterprise was 
finally commenced. 

On Friday, August 19, 1664, Col. Richard Nichols, formerly 
groom of the bedchamber to the Duke of York, in command of 
some English vessels of war, anchored in the bay of New Am- 
sterdam and demanded a surrender of the town. Stuyvesant at 
first stoutly refused but after some reflection he yielded and on 
the 27th of August his administration and with it the Dutch 



1. (Dr. Hattield says that this is a corruption of the words Achter Kol which signified 
lehind the Bay.") i. e. u ' ' ' '' ' --1---1- 1 j- - - nt . „„ 

the estuary which separates 



Behind the Bay.") i. e. upon that portion of New Jersey which borders upon Newark and 
h separates Staten Island from the main shore. 



28 



sovereignty on these shores came to an end. The month follow- 
ing (September 26) a petition for liberty to purchase and settle 
the land on the Achter Kol was forwarded to Governor Nichols 
from Jamaica, L. I., by six of the English residents, who seem to 
have acted in full harmony with those who had presented peti- 
tions of a similar nature to Governor Stuyvesant. 

Governor Nichols gave his consent on the 30th of August 
of the same month, the land was forthwith purchased from the 
Indians, and a deed from them was signed October 28th and 
approved by the Governor in December and by his grant the 
title to the land was conferred on several gentlemen, their associ- 
ates, heirs, administrators, and assigns, for the purpose of settle- 
ing plantations on the territory and for the benefit of the settlers. 

Thus the settlement of Elizabethtown, New Jersey was 
undertaken by well known New Englanders and ground for the 
plantation was broken as early as November, 1664. 

We need not be surprised to learn that Robert Seeley was 
drawn to this new enterprise in which so many of his acquaint- 
ances were interested. John Strickland, who wrote the first 
letter to Governor Stuyvesant, asking permission to establish 
a settlement on the Achter Kol, was one of his fellow planters 
and fellow church members at Watertown and was subsequently 
associated with him at Wethersfield and Fairfield. Among the six 
patentees of the new settlement were the two Dentons (Daniel 
and Nathaniel) sons of the minister. With John Foster and 
Luke Watson he had been associated in the affairs of Fairfield ; 
with John Ogden in those of Stamford ; with Thomas Benedict 
he had been a fellow townsman at Huntington. More than forty 
of the original planters had been united with him in founding 
one or more of the townships of Watertown, Wethersfield, New 
Haven, Fairfield, Stamford and Huntington, L. I., or in manag- 
ing their affairs. With many of them he had borne arms and 



29 



had been their leader in some bloody battles. It was natural 
therefore, that he should unite with them in their new and 
promising undertaking. 

Accordingly, at the close of the year 1664, he withdrew 
from his appointments and engagements at Huntington, put an 
end to the pleasant relations he had so long enjoyed as an honor- 
ed citizen of New Haven and early m 1665 we find him among 
the planters of the new township on the Achter Kol. 

We learn from Denton (quoted by Hatfield) that it was 
agreed and understood by the Associates from the beginning, 
that the lands which had been purchased by them "should be 
divided in proportion to the money paid for the property : to wit, 
into first lot, second lot and third lot rights, — the second lot to 
be double, and the third lot treble what was apportioned to those 
called first lot rights." 

We learn further that (Hatfield) of the eighty settlers, 
twenty-one had third-lot rights ; twenty-six second-lot rights and 
thirty-three had first-lot rights and of the twenty-one whose 
payments entitled them to third-lot rights was Robert Seeley. 
His town lot accordingly was one of the largest. It consisted of 
six acres and was bounded on the north by the lot of Rev. Jere- 
miah Peck (the first pastor of the church in Elizabethtown) west 
by Mill Creek, east by the highway and south by " the Parson's 
House Lott." 

But it is not probable that Robert Seeley ever resided in 
Elizabethtown, there being at first no building of any kind on 
his premises and after his withdrawal from Huntington, he seems 
to have lived for the remainder of his days in the city to which 
Governor Nichols gave the name of New York. But his resi- 
dence here was not of long duration. On the 19th of October, 
1 667, ten years after the decease of his son Obadiah,his busy, adven- 
turesome and eventful career came to its close, and judging from 



30 



the relations he sustained throughout life to the Church of God 
and the esteem in which he was held by his fellow citizens, we 
may believe that, like the calm and peaceful flow of a river into 
the ocean, when rocks and rapids are left behind, so his career, 
marked as it had been by exile and wanderings, by frontier hard- 
ships and by fearful experiences of battle and of blood, at last 
found quiet and rest in that blessed land which is never disturbed 
by the noise of warriors, by the sight of garments rolled in blood 
or by the presence of human hatred. 

Dr. Hatfield, in his valuable History of Elizabethtown, 
makes two statements concerning Robert Seeley which are 
erroneous, as will easily be shown. First, relying upon the au- 
thority of Savage, he gives October 19, 1668 as the date of Rob- 
ert's decease. Whereas, in the year 1667 the General Court of 
New Haven granted certain abatements to his widozv. 

Dr. Hatfield also states that "in December 1666 he married 
Nancy Walker at New York." Dr. Hatfield's death prevented 
the investigation of his authority for this statement but mean- 
while we have abundant evidence that after his decease letters 
of administration were granted to his widow, Mary, by the prop- 
er authorities, at the Surrogates office in the City of New York. 

Below will be found an exact copy of this document ; and 
with it we close this sketch of the progenitors of the Seeleys in 
this country. 

" Whereas Captain Robert Seeley, late of this city, died 
intestate, Mary, his relict and widow, did at the last general 
court of Assize held upon the seventeenth of this month, sue for 
letters of administration of the goods and estate heretofore be- 
longing unto the same Robert Seeley, her husband. Whereupon 
the Court did adjudge that letters of administration should be 
granted accordingly and she, having given sufficient security for 
the performance of what in such cases is by law required, and 



31 



returned the particulars thereof into this office. These are to 
certify that the said Mary, the relict and widow of Robert Seeley 
aforesaid, is admitted and confirmed to all intents and purposes, 
administratrix of the whole estate, together with all the goods 
and chattels of what nature and kind so ever, heretofore belong- 
ing, or in any way appertaining unto the aforesaid Robert Seeley, 
deceased, and the said Mary hath hereby full power and lawful 
authority to enter into possession of the premises and to demand 
and sue for and recover, receive and dispose of all or any part of 
the estate of said Robert Seeley, her husband, deceased, in such 
manner as administrators by the laws of this government are 
allowed to do. Sealed with the seal of the office of records, 
dated in New York, the 19th day of October, in the 20th year 
of His Majesty's reign, A. D., 1668. (Book number I, entitled 
Wills and Administrations, 1665—1683, New York City.)" 






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